The "Relocation, Relocation" Problem

"Port Nanven, Cornwall" by Benjamin Novant

I have to admit that I watch and enjoy Channel 4's Relocation, Relocation programme with Location, Location, Location presenters Kirstie Allsop and Phil Spencer helping wealthy couples (usually from London) make the part-time move back into the countryside while also holding onto a "crash-pad" in their urban job centre. It's escapism at its best seeming to offer us all the chance to leave the city behind and return to an idyllic and quiet rural setting only a stone's throw from a charming village. However, since I started watching the programme, a few questions have come to mind.

The first is whether any "family" (most are couples wanting to start families or with their first newborn) regardless of their wealth should be allowed two homes in one country? England is a country currently starved of affordable housing with the government fighting to build 15,000-20,000 new homes over the next 20 years (click here to read about plans to make 6,000 of these homes carbon neutral). So why should a wealthy couple have homes in Cornwall and London, one of which sits empty most of the year, when many Britons can't afford to buy any home at all?

The second issue is what kind of economic instability this kind of absentee ownership causes in these rural communities? Aside from issues of not spending locally, wealthy families cause damage to the local housing market because they can afford to pay top dollar for their village homes, funding their purchases with London wages or profits made through selling heavily inflated urban properties. The use of this urban wealth in the countryside inflates the village housing market substantially, making it very hard for locally employed workers to afford to live in their own village. Jasper Gerard from the Guardian reports that Cornwall area house prices can be as much at 17 times the annual income of locals. While there is some effort going into building affordable housing for locals only, the bigger issue is one that has substantially limited progress in the States: How much will government be willing to restrict the wealthy from enjoying their money at the expense of rural communities and/or the environment?